Process and means for treating textile fibres

ABSTRACT

APPARATUS FOR TREATING A RANDOM MASS OF WOOL OR OTHER TEXTILE FIBRES TO CONVERT THEM INTO A LAP OR SLIVER HAVING THE FIBRES IN SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL FORMATION, WHEREIN THE RANDOM MASS OF FIBRES IS SUPPLIED BETWEEN A PAIR OF PINNED FEED ROLLERS WHOSE PINS CO-OPERATE TO EFFECT A RESTRAINING BUT NON-POSITIVE GRIP ON THE MATERIAL WHILST IT IS DRAWN FROM THE PINS OF THE ROLLERS BY FALLER GILLS MOVING AT A SPEED AT LEAST THREE TIMES AS FAST AS THAT WHICH THE FIBRES ARE FORWARDED BY SAID ROLLERS TO STRAIGHTEN THE FIBRES IN THE SPACE BETWEEN THE ROLLERS AND THE NEAREST FALLER GILLS, WHICH SPACE IS NOT GREATER THAN THE MEAN FIBRE LENGTH OF THE MATERIAL BEING TREATED, THE FIBRES THEN BEING DRAWN OFF THE FALLER GILLS BY DELIVERY ROLLERS.

Dec. 14, 1971 3,626,552

PROCESS AND MEANS FOR TREATING TEXTILE FIBRES D. WALKER ETAL 3Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed NOV. 17,

/Nl//\/TO DONALD WALKER and MICHAEL JOHN WA KER By M i) f ATT E Dec. 14,1971 WALKER T 3,626,552

PROCESS AND MEANS FOR TREATING TEXTILE FIBRES Filed Nov. 17, 1969 3Sheets-Sheet 2 //vvE/\ OQ DONALD WALKER and MICHAEL JOHN W KE ATT Dec.14, 1971 WALKER ETAL 3,626,552

PROCESS AND MEANS FOR TREATING TEXTILE FIBRES Filed Nov. 17, 1969 3Sheets-Sheet 5 Tw w /v l/LA/TOP D LD WALKER and MIC L JOHN ALKER AOEYUnited States Patent M 3,626,552 PROCESS AND MEANS FOR TREATING TEXTILEFIBRES Donald Walker, 58 Brarnley Lane, Lightclitfe, near Halifax,England, and Michael John Walker, 36 Florence Ave., Wilsden, nearBradford, England Continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 660,785,Aug. 15, 1967. This application Nov. 17, 1969, Ser. No. 877,198 Claimspriority, application Great Britain, Aug. 22, 1966, 33,172/ 66 Int. Cl.Dg 19/06 US. Cl. 19129 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Apparatus fortreating a random mass of wool or other textile fibres to convert theminto a lap or sliver having the fibres in substantially parallelformation, wherein the random mass of fibres is supplied between a pairof pinned feed rollers whose pins co-operate to effect a restraining butnon-positive grip on the material whilst it is drawn from the pins ofthe rollers by faller gills moving at a speed at least three times asfast as that at which the fibres are forwarded by said rollers tostraighten the fibres in the space between the rollers and the nearestfaller gills, which space is not greater than the mean fibre length ofthe material being treated, the fibres then being drawn off the fallergills by delivery rollers.

This invention relates to a gilling process and gilling apparatus forstraightening a random mass of textile fibres to facilitate subsequentcombing and constitutes a continuation-in-part, of our application Ser.No. 660,785 filed Aug. 15, 1967, now abandoned.

The invention is particularly suited to straightening a random mass ofwool fibres whether in the scoured or in greasy condition, that iswhether washed or unwashed, and will be more particularly described inthis specification with reference to this material, but the term textilefibres used in this specification and in the appended claims is to beunderstood as including other textile fibres, whether natural orartificial (i.e. synthetic) and whether in their natural state or aftercoating treatment, which may be advantageously treated or furthertreated in accordance with the invention.

-It is usual in the textile industry to treat the randomly arrangedfibrous materials at an early stage of the manufacturing process to astraightening treatment aimed at untangling the individual fibres andbringing them collectively into substantially mutual alignment so as tofacilitate the subsequent combing treatment.

Methods for straightening fibres espectially wool fibres are known. Theone most commonly used is that of carding followed by gilling where thecarded slivers are fed by a pair of feed rollers in which they arepositively gripped, to gill fallers provided with pins moving atsubstantially the same surface speed as that of the feed rollers but ata slower rate than the surface speed of the delivery rollers which drawthe material from the faller pins. It is widely recognised that thecarding process, due to the harsh action on the material by the variouscylinders, causes excessive breakage of fibres and nep formation. Also,in the case of the final transfer of the material to the doifercylinder, considerable hooking of fibres occurs. The gilling processdescribed above acts merely as a further straightening process to thecarded sliver and is only suitable for already partially straightenedfibres, as any attempt to treat a random mass of partially entangledfibres by drawing it through faller pins at a higher surface speed thanthat of the fallers causes much fibre breakage.

Patented Dec. 14, 1971 "In another method which has been used thescoured material in either open or tangled condition is fed as a loosemat by a pair of feed rollers in which it is positively gripped to gillfallers provided with pins moving at a faster rate than the surfacespeed of the feed rollers but at a slower rate than the surface speed ofthe delivery rollers which draw the material from the faller pins. Inthis method the straightening action depends substantially on thetreatment by the faller pins on the random mass of fibres held in thepositive grip of the feed rollers. With any excessive entangement thefaller pins will not be able to comb through the fibres but will breakthem, besides which undue strain will be placed upon the faller bars andtheir propelling mechanism.

A proposal has been made in the Grivel patents U.S. No. 1,494,833 andFrench No. 29,025 (1st Addition) to modify a gill intersecting doubleneedle comb drawing machine for W001, flax, hemp and similar materialsby inserting before the needle combs a plurality of needle cylinders ofwhich the relative position can be adjusted. These needle cylinders takethe place of some of the leading needle combs (faller bars) and thematerial is fed to them by the positive nip of a pair of feed rollersand drawn from them by a drawing cylinder (draw rollers). Whilst thisdisclosure makes no reference to the relative speeds of the feedrollers, needle cylinders, needle bars and drawing cylinder nor to thedegree of longitudinal spacing apart of these four sets of elements, themodifications are stated to be related to the improvement of standardgill intersecting needle comb drawing machines by reducing the number ofneedle combs required.

It is apparent that in this disclosure, no increase of surface speedbetween the needle cylinders and the needle bars having been described,the needle cylinders are only intended to act as substitutes for anumber of needle bars and so to assist the remaining needle bars inimposing a restraining and combing out action on the material beingdrawn through the pins by the draw cylinders. The Grivel specificationdescribed a plurality of needle cylinders with interchangeable needlenumber fittings whereby the first cylinder contains the rough (orcoarse) pinning and the final one immediately before the needle combsthe finest, it being clearly intended that the material should receive agradually progressive retention by separate and individual action byeach cylinder. If the intention had been to use any two cylinders,intersecting or non-intersecting, acting on the material at one and thesame time, which would require these cylinders to be located in asubstantially vertical plane, different needle number fittings would notbe required.

By reference to the description and drawings of this disclosure it wouldbe clear to one skilled in the art that the needle cylinder bodies areof relatively large diameter and the pins correspondingly short. Whilstthis arrangement is suitable for treating fibres already partiallystraightened and converted into silver formation, material in randommass would only receive partial treatment as a proportion of the fibreswould ride on top of the pins and so not be properly drafted, whilst thedistance between the point of pin control of the respective cylindersand the point of pin control between the last cylinder and the firstneedle bar would be too great to maintain effective draft control.

It is further described that the position of the needle cylinders can beadjusted, this provision only being necessary when material is drawn ona single. needle comb set when presumably the material must be presentedto the needle combs on a slightly lower plane. The needle cylinders areshown as occupying the three points of a triangle with a substantiallyhorizontal base, the upper cylinder lying in a vertical plane betweenthe other two, the cylinder nearest to the needle bars can be adjustedslightly when the upper needle comb set is not in use but withoutsubstantially altering the triangular formation. Any attempt to bringthe cylinder nearest to the needle combs into a substantially verticalplane with the upper cylinder would result in the distance between aline drawn throug. the centre plane of these two cylinders and the firstneedle bar becoming so great that any control of fibres at this pointwould have only minimal straightening effect. If a machine as describedand so constructed were applied to the straightening of a random mass ofpartially entangled fibres and same drawbacks as described withreference to the first known method referred to above would ensue.

Alternatively, if this prior construction could be regarded as suitablefor treating a random mass of fibres in the manner of said second knownmethod where the main straightening action occurs between the positivenip of the feed rollers and the fallers, the angle of pins on thesubstituted cylinders as described would result in a sliding andnon-penetrating action through the mass of fibres without accomplishingany straightening action. Should it be presumed that the needlecylinders be made to revolve in an opposite rotary plane whereby thefirst cylinder combs through and takes off the material gripped in thefeed roller nip at a greater surface speed and the second cylinderstrips the first again at a greater surface speed and so throughout anyplurality of cylinders to the needle bars also travelling at a stillhigher surface speed, exces sive fibre breakage would be created for thesame reasons as described with reference to the second known method. Onsuch a machine as described and illustrated the needle bars could nottake off the material from the final needle cylinder, because the angleof the cylinder pins at this point would impose a retaining grip on thematerial.

Moreover, as described and illustrated in this disclosure the materialis fed into the feed roller nip and thence to the first needle cylinder.Whilst this method would be suitable for conveying fibres alreadypartially straightened and formed into a cohesive sliver, the means sodescribed would not be applicable to a random mass of fibres as, due tothe loose formation of this mass, some feed means additional to theroller nip would be required, besides which the mass could not supportitself between the nip of the rollers and the first needle cylinder.

It must be concluded therefore that this prior machine was neverintended to and could not possibly treat a random mass of partiallyentangled fibres where the primary object is that of rendering theseinto a substantially parallel formation without causing undue breakageof fibres.

It is important that in the straightening of a random mass of fibres thetreatment applied should allow the fibres or, in the case of greasywool, the staples to be drawn apart from each other without imposing therestraining action of a positive grip at any given point.

It is clear that any one of the methods earlier described is notsuitable for treating such a random mass where the aim is to achievesubstantial alignment without causing undue fibre breakage.

One object of this invention is therefore to provide an improved gillingprocess and gilling apparatus for treating a random mass of any suitabletextile fibres whereby the fibres can be straightened out to a greatdegree without causing an excessive amount of breakage of fibres.

Another object is to provide such a gilling process and gillingapparatus whereby the fibres can be sufficiently straightened andaligned in a mat of the material to enable the usual carding or likeprocess to be dispensed with.

A still further object is to provide such a gilling appa ratus which canreadily be adjusted to suit materials of different character andparticularly according to the mean fibre length of the material to betreated.

A still further object is to provide such a gilling process and gillingapparatus which will be particularly suitable 4 for treating greasy woolin lock form or scoured wool in lock form for straightening the locksand/or the fibres without causing excessive fibre breakage.

The gilling process according to the invention comprises the steps ofsupplying the random mass of fibres between a pair of rotatably drivenpinned feed rollers which exert a restraining but non-positive grip onthe fibres, drawing said fibres off the pins of said rollers by engagingthe fibres by faller gills moving at a speed at least three times thespeed at which the fibres are forwarded by said feed rollers tostraighten the fibres of said material in the space between said feedrollers and the nearest of said faller gills, the longitudinal dimensionof said space being not greater than the mean fibre length of thematerial being treated, and drawing said fibres off said faller gills ata speed greater than that at which the faller gills move.

The gilling apparatus according to the invention comprises a pair ofrotatably driven feed rollers located with their axes of rotation in acommon substantially vertical plane; means for supplying the random massof fibrous material to be treated between said feed rollers; pinsprovided on each one of said feed rollers which are arranged on one ofsaid feed rollers to co-operate with the pins on the other one of saidfeed rollers when said rollers are driven in Opposite angular directionsto one another whereby the two sets of pins on the two feed rollerspenetrate substantially the full thickness of the mass of fibrousmaterial and effect a restraining but non-positive grip on the fibrousmaterial passing between said feed rollers; a pair of rotatably drivendeliver rollers for effecting a positive draw-off of the material; andfaller gills located in a path between said feed rollers and saiddelivery rollers, whereby said faller gills are arranged to move alongsaid path at a speed at least three times the surface speed at which thetips of said pins move to straighten the fibres of said material in thespace between said feed rollers and the nearest of said faller gills,the distance between said common plane through the axes of said feedrollers and the nearest of said faller gills being not greater than themean fibre length of the material being treated.

With the above stated objects in view the invention will now bedescribed with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings,which illustrate by Way of example one embodiment of the inventionparticularly suitable for handling greasy wool before scouring. In thesedrawings:

FIG. 1 represents in side elevation the essential parts of theapparatus, the gill box being represented only by its faller bars andarrows indicating the direction of movement of the parts;

FIG. 2 represents a fragmentary plan view of the pinned rollers shown inFIG. 1;

FIG. 3 represents in side elevation two clearer devices co-operatingwith the pinned rollers;

FIG. 4 represents a fragmentary end elevation of the clearer comb shownin FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 represents in side elevation a clearer device cooperating withthe faller pins near the front (i.e. delivery end) of the apparatus;

FIG. 6 represents a detail of the mounting means for the upper one ofsaid pinned rollers;

FIGS. 7 and 8 represent respectively a plan and a side elevation of thepinned rollers and faller bars and illustrate how these elements dealwith the random mass of material in accordance with this invention;

FIGS. 9 and 10 correspond respectively to FIGS. 7 and 8 but illustratewhat would happen to the fibres if the pinned rollers are not correctlyspaced from the nearest faller bars.

According to the illustrated embodiment of the inven tion wool fibres Win the form of greasy locks, i.e. as sheared from the sheep. are fed byany conventional hopper means (not shown) to an endless conveyor 1provided with a feed assisting roller 2 thus lightly condensing, but notpositively gripping the locks of wool which as indicated at 3 areforwarded by the conveyor 1 and roller 2 to a gilling operation. Thelocks lie in random order as they are forwarded towards the gill andthey are passed between upper and lower pinned feed rollers 4 and 5whose axes of rotation lie in a common substantially vertical plane.These rollers are driven at the same speed but in opposite directions asindicated by the arrows in FIGS. 1 and 3. Each roller has a cylindricalbody portion 6 set with pins 7 which are backwardly inclined against thedirection of rotation of that roller and which cover the whole workinglength of the roller.

As indicated in FIG. 6 the lower pinned roller 5 is mounted in bearings23 in a support 24 which fix the axis of rotation of this roller whenthe machine is operating. The upper pinned roller 4- is mounted inbearings 25 in an arm 26 pivoted at 27 for yielding movement upwardlyagainst the pressure of spring 28 so that variations in the thickness ofthe mat of fibres fed through will tend to lift roller 4 or allow it todescend according to the thickness of the fibre mat and thus ensure thatthe pins of the respective rollers penetrate the mat of material so asto restrain and straighten the material as later described. Anadjustable stop 29 determines the degree of intersection of the pins 7.

The gill box also includes conventional intersecting fallers 8 anddelivery rollers 9, the fallers 8 having pins 30 which engage thefibrous material fed to them by the pinned rollers 4, 5 and which moveat a forward speed preferably at least three times the surface speed atwhich the tips of the pins 7 move. The zone through which the materialpasses between leaving the point of maximum restraining action of thepins 7 and being engaged by the gill pins 30 will have a longitudinaldimension or ratch R (see FIG. 1) which will be adjusted before startingthe machine to suit the mean fibre length of the fibres in the materialto be treated, because it is essential that at least the majority of theindividual fibres should still have their rear ends under control of thepinned rollers when their forward ends come under control of the nearestgill pins.

This ratch can be accurately controlled by reason of the mounting of thepinned feed rollers substantially vertically one above the other, whichenables a very close estimate to be made of the point at which thefibres pass out of the control of the pins 7.

The choice of a suitable dimension for this ratch thus ensures that asthe gill pins 30 engage the fibres they first exert a straighteningaction whilst such fibres are restrained by the pins 7, but as the gillpins 30 gain control over such fibres and begin to draw them out of thepinned rollers, the fibres are drawn through the pins 7 and thussubjected to a further straightening action. Since there is no positivegrip on the fibre locks at the pinned feed rollers the locks are drawnthrough the pins 7 and thus aligned without too much disturbance of thefibres within the locks, which fibres are already by naturesubstantially in parallel formation within each lock. The fact thatthere is no positive grip on the fibre locks by the pinned feed rollerswill prevent excessive fibre breakage which Would occur in conventionalgills having positive-nip feed rollers when processing such materials.

The pins 7 of the pinned rollers also have the effect of taking fibrelocks which may be lying substantially laterally of the direction offeed and restraining them when the gill pins 80 engage them, therebycausing these locks to be substantially aligned into the direction offeed.

It will be clear from the above explanation that the distance betweenthe aforesaid plane through the axes of the pinned rollers and thenearest of said faller gills must necessarily be not greater than (andpreferably less than) the mean fibre length of the material beingtreated at any particular time. For example, if the mean fibre length isof the order of 4 cms. this distance must be not more than 4 cms.

This essential requisite for the successful results achieved by theinvention is illustrated in FIGS, 7 and 8, where the ratch R and themean fibre length L are indicated, R being slightly less than L. Thefibres W entering between the pinned rollers in random orientation havetheir front ends taken by the gill pins 30 before their rear ends haveescaped from the roller pins 7 so that, due to the greater surface speedof the gill pins, the fibres are straightened and drafted. FIGS. 9 and10 illustrate the lack of fibre control which would occur if the ratch Rwere greater than the length L, the fibres passing from the pins 7 tothe pins 30 still in their random orientations because there is no pullexerted on the individual fibres in their direction of travel tostraighten them, only a movement in that direction of the mat of fibresas a whole.

These FIGS. 7 to 10 also serve to illustrate the necessity for thefaller pins 30 to travel appreciably faster than the roller pins 7 asalready explained so as to exert a drafting action on the mat of fibreswhich will be sufficient to straighten the non-aligned fibres. Withoutthis increase in speed then even where the ratch was of the correctdimension relative to the mean fibre length, the material taken up bythe faller pins would have its fibres still lying in their random stateas illustrated in FIG. 9.

The pins 7 may be set in rollers 4 and 5 at any suitable distances apartin rows across the rollers either in parallel, helical or randomformation, but preferably as clearly indicated in FIGS. 1 and 3 those onone roller intersect those on the other roller at the point of contactwith the material being fed. As shown in FIG. 2 the pins 7 are set in aseries of circles which are spaced apart equidistantly along the rollerbody 6, but the circles on one roller are staggered relative to those onthe other roller so that the pins on one roller pass between those onthe other roller. This is shown in FIG. 2 where pinned roller 4 is shownin full lines and the pins of roller 5 are indicated by broken lines.The angles of the pins, which may be of the order of 35 to a radialline, facilitates stripping of fibres from them by the gilling actionand thus avoids blocking of the pinned rollers by accumulated fibres.

The pins 7 are preferably, as illustrated, of a similar form to thosegenerally used in the gill fallers. For treating greasy wool passingbetween the rollers 4, 5 in a mat approximately 4 cms. thick, the pinsmay project beyond the roller bodies 6 for approximately 2 /2 cms., andthose on one roller may intersect those on the other roller byapproximately 1 cm. This intersection of the two sets of pins ensures acomplete penetration of the mat of material. However, whilst apronounced intersecting of the pins 7 is preferred to give a greaterrestraining action On the whole of the fibres, the degree ofintersection may be reduced to a very small amount and in some cases,for example for treating very long fibres having a mean length of theorder of 13 cms. upwards, the tips of the pins may travel in circleswhich have a common tangent, provided substantially the whole of thefibres are subjected to the restraining action of the pins.

The density (i.e. the closeness of spacing) of the roller pins 7 and thegill pins 30 can be varied to take into consideration variations indifferent types or grades of fibrous material to be treated. Forexample, in the treatment of greasy wool having short length and finequality characteristics where the staple formation is narrow, closerspacing of the pins in the rollers and faller bars would be requiredthan that used for material of a coarser quality, longer length andbroader staple formation.

The thickness of the random mass of fibre fed into the machine is suchthat, after the fibres have been straightened by the drafting action,the lap of fibres delivered from the delivery rollers is of sufficientdensity to allow of its subsequent manipulation as mentioned below. Forexample, in the case of wool in the unwashed state in which it isexcessively heavy with grease and solid impurities, a greater thickness(i.e. weight per unit length) would have to be fed into the machine, inorder to attain after scouring the density of lap required forsubsequent manipulation and processing than would be the case whendealing with a material of a lower grease and solid impurity content.

It is to be understand that, as already mentioned earlier in thisspecification, a change in the density of the mat of fibres occursbetween the pinned rollers and the faller bars. This change in densityis, of course, governed by the diference in speed between these twounits. For example, if the faller bars are made to move forward at asurface speed three times as great as that of the rollers, the densityof the mat will be reduced to one third of the weight of the matentering between the pinned rollers. Similarly, if the relative speedsare increased to the ratio of five to one, the the reduction in densitywill be to one fifth. This principle of drafting fibrous materials inthe from of laps or slivers is well known in the textile industry, butit is applied in a particularly advantageous and accurately controlledmanner in carrying out the process of this invention specifically toachieve a high degree of alignment of the fibres in the mat of materialwhich is suppled to the pined rollers, with the fibres in random ortangled disposition.

The difference in surface speed between delivery rollers 9, and gillfallers 8 is small, the rollers preferably moving at a speed only alittle higher than the speed of the fallers, but not more than fourtimes that speed.

The pressure on the delivery or drawing-off rollers may be lighter thanthat normally required on conventional gills in order to further redlcethe tendency to fibre damage, and preferably the top and bottom rollersare each positively driven to facilitate delivery without increasing thepressure.

An apron made of thickly woven cotton faced with a grease resistantsynthetic fabric may be used in conven tional manner around one of thedrawing-off rollers instead of the usual apron 11 made from leather toavoid the tendency of greasy fibres to adhere to the apron.

On leaving the delivery rollers the material in the form of a lap ofaligned locks may be wound on to a bobbin at a balling head or may bedelivered in continuous lap form to the next operation.

Thus, by the use of apparatus according to this invention, the need fora carding operation is obviated, the fibres being in a sufficientlystraightened or parallel condi tion to be passed to the combing orequivalent treatment.

Whilst the use of two sets of intersecting fallers operating along aflat bed has been described above by way of example, we may use a singleset operating along a fiat bed or otherwise. For instance the upper setof fallers 8 shown in FIG. 1 might be dispensed with.

Although the inclination of the pins 7 help to allow the fibres thereonto be pulled away by the action of the faller pins 30, we prefer toprovide means for assisting the clearing of the pinned rollers. One formof such a clearer device is shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, being in the theform of a comb or forked plate 12 having teeth 13 of such a size andlateral spacing (see FIG. 4) as to pass freely between the pins 7. Thiscomb extends the length of the pinned roller and is mounted on a frame14 is pivotally supported at 15 and arranged to be rocked in an areabout such pivot by a link 16 actuated by a suitably driven eccentricdevice 17. The extent of movement of this clearer is indicated in FIG.3, the teeth 13 also acting upon the upper surface of the fibrousmaterial to assist the feed thereof, and also to assist to some extentthe straightening of the fibres at this stage. Any grease from thefibres which may tend to adhere to the pins 7 will be removed therefromwith the removal of the fibres.

An identical clearer device co-operates with the lower pinned roller andthe lower surface of the material, being inverted and convenientlyoperated from the same means which operates the upper clearer device.

Due to the build-up of extraneous matter of either vegetable or mineralorigin in the pins of the fallers during the processing of unwashedmaterial it has been found desirable to incorprate some means ofassisting the draw- 8 ing-off rollers in the clearing of these pinsduring operation. One method of achieving this object is as follows.

In the known mechanism of a gill box the passage of the faller bars fromthe working screw to the return screw is controlled by two conductorguides 18, i.e. as the fallers extract themselves from the fibrousmaterial. A clearer blade 19 is therefore fixed by its ends to eachconductor guide by means of a ball joint 20 so as not to restrict thenormal spring-opposed yielding movement of the conductors about theirpivots 22 in any way. The blade 19 is additionally controlled in itsmovement by its lower end being located between two fixed slide rails21, which allow up and down movement of the blade but act as a pivotonly for back and forward movement.

The cleaner blade 19 being actuated in such a manner will always be keptin close proximity to the pins of the faller bars 8 as they retract fromthe material, thereby transferring any material (which would otherwisebe left in the pins) to the smooth clearer blade 19 and so greatlyassisting the drawing-off rollers 9, 10 in their function. Here again,any grease from the fibres which may tend to adhere to the faller pins30 will be removed therefrom with the removal of the fibres.

The apparatus as outlined above will not allow the pins of the fallersto come in direct Contact with the clearer blade and thereby avoidsdamage to either or both of the said roller pins or clearer blade.

It will be understood that a similar oscillating clearer bladeco-operates with the upper set of faller bars and that the angularoscillation may be replaced by a linear reciprocation.

Although the specific embodiment described above relates to the processof treating greasy locks of wool, it should be understood that apparatusaccording to the invention may also be used for processing wool or anyother suitable fibres whether in their natural or treated stateincluding man-made fibre such as rayon or synthetic fibres such asnylon.

We claim:

1. A gilling apparatus for treating a random mass of wool or othertextile fibres, comprising a pair of rotatably driven feed rollerslocated with their axes of rotation in a common substantially verticalplane, means for supplying the random mass of material to be treatedbetween said feed rollers, a set of pins provided on each of said feedrollers, said pins being backwardly inclined relative to the directionof rotation of said rollers, said feed rollers being located relative toone another and being rotated in opposite angular directions to oneanother whereby the paths of travel of the pins of one set intersect thepaths of travel of the pins of the other set to penetrate substantiallythe full thickness of the material and effect a restraining butnon-positive grip on the material passing between said rollers, a pairof rotatably driven delivery rollers for effecting a positive draw-offof the material, and faller gills located in a path between said feedrollers and said delivery rollers whereby said faller gills are arrangedto move along said path at a speed at least three times the surfacespeed at which the tips of said pins move to straighten the fibres ofsaid mate rial in the space between said feed rollers and the nearest ofsaid faller gills, said apparatus including at least one clearer devicein the form of a comb having its teeth arranged to be moved to and frobetween the pins on one of said feed rollers and to be moved towards thefibrous material and partly forward in the direction of travel of thematerial so as to assist in the withdrawal of fibres off said pins bysaid faller gills and to assist the straightening of the fibres.

2. A gilling apparatus for treating a random mass of wool or othertextile fibres comprising a pair of rotatably driven feed rollerslocated with their axes of rotation in a common substantially verticalplane; means for supplying the random mass of material to be treatedbetween said feed rollers; a set of pins provided on each of said feedrollers, said pins being backwardly inclined relative to the directionof rotation of said rollers, said feed rollers being located relative toone another and being rotated in opposite angular directions to oneanother whereby the paths of travel of the pins of one set intersect thepaths of travel of the pins of the other set to penetrate substantiallythe'full thickness of the material and effect a restraining butnon-positive grip on the material passing be tween said rollers; a pairof rotatably driven delivery rollers for effecting a positive draw-offof the material; faller gills located in a path between said feedrollers and said delivery rollers, whereby said faller gills arearranged to move along said path at a speed at least three times thesurface speed at which the tips of said pins move to straighten thefibres of said material in the space between said feed rollers and thenearest of said faller gills; said apparatus including yieldableconductor guides for guiding taller bars carrying said faller gills atthe end of their working stroke, and a clearer device in the form of ablade mounted on said guides and extending laterally therebetween'so asto co-operate with said faller gills without touching them as the latterretract from the fibrous material and thereby assist the drawing of thefibres off said faller gills by said delivery rollers.

3. A gilling apparatus for treating a mass of loose, tangled, randomlyorientated wool or other textile fibres, comprising: a pair of rotatablydriven feed rollers comprising upper and lower rollers located withtheir axes of rotation in a substantially vertical plane; a feedassistant device including conveyor means to deliver a lightly condensedmass of predetermined thickness between said feed rollers; a pair ofrotatably driven delivery rollers for effecting a positive draw-off ofthe mass of the material; faller gills located in a path between saidfeed roller and said delivery rollers; a set of pins provided on each ofsaid feed rollers, said pins being backwardly inclined relative to thedirection of rotation of said rollers; said feed rollers being arrangedfor rotation in opposite angular directions to one another and spacedapart so that the tips of the pins move in circles to cause the pins tocooperate with one another to eifect a combined penetration of the fullthickness of the mass of fibrous material and effect a restraining butnon-positive grip on the fibres of the mass drawn past said pins by saidfaller gills; mounting means permitting one of said pinned feed rollersto move up and down under the influence of the thickness of the materialbetween said feed rollers; loading means acting on said verticallymovable roller for yieldingly opposing said movement away from saidmaterial; and adjustable stop means to determine the limit of saidmovement towards said material, thereby ensuring a controlledpenetration of the material by said two sets of pins; said two sets ofpins defining a path of travel for the fibres between said feed rollers,which path is substantially at right angles to said plane, and saidfaller gills and delivery rollers being arranged to draw the mass offibres along an extension of said path whereby the distance between saidpoint of touching or the maximum intersection of the pins and the pointof entry of the nearest gill into the mass of fibres can be determinedwith accuracy.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 874,715 12/1907 Westcott et a119129 1,494,833 5/1924 Grivel 19-129 2,086,308 7/ 1937 Hille et al19-1.27 XR 2,607,083 8/1952 Bird 19--251 2,761,179 9/1956 LePoutre19-258 FOREIGN PATENTS Ad. 29,025 1/1925 France 19-128 DORSEY NEWTON,Primary Examiner

